Congresswomen Strickland, Escobar, and Jacobs Introduce the Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act of 2024

Washington, DC - Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16), and Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (CA-51) introduced the Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act of 2024. The Senate companion has been introduced by Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

Studies have shown that servicemembers face unique challenges accessing contraception and family planning counseling, especially when deployed. With that in mind, the Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act of 2024:

1. Requires that all people enrolled in TRICARE have coverage of contraceptives without cost-sharing, the same as civilians;
2. Requires the Department of Defense to develop a comprehensive family planning education program for all servicemembers, ensuring that military families have the information necessary to make informed decisions; and
3. Guarantees access to emergency contraception for survivors of sexual assault upon their request.

Permanently alleviating these challenges is particularly important at a time when our military continues to confront recruitment and retention challenges.

"Answering the call to serve often means making a great number of sacrifices for your country, and being able to start a family should not be one of them," said Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10). "All Americans deserve access to contraceptives."

"The Department of Defense provides health care to nearly 1.62 million women of reproductive age, but many military dependents face co-pays on birth control when their civilian counterparts don't," Congresswoman Escobar said. "No military family should have fewer rights than those they serve to protect. That's why I'm proud to join my colleagues, Sara Jacobs and Marilyn Strickland, in introducing a long overdue, commonsense piece of legislation to ensure military families have access to the care they need."

Rep. Sara Jacobs said: "Given all that we ask from our service members and their families, it's absolutely shameful that they can be forced to pay more than civilians for contraception - an essential part of health care. Research tells us that even small copays of contraception can prevent people from getting the care they need, pushing some to forgo contraception completely, choose less effective methods, or use it inconsistently. That's an unacceptable risk for our service members and endangers our military readiness. I'm proud to co-lead the Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act to fix this glaring oversight and ensure that our military can get the contraception they need."

"At this critical moment for reproductive health access, we are grateful for the introduction of this bill by Representatives Escobar, Jacobs, and Strickland to lift barriers to birth control for service members and their families," said Jackii Wang, Senior Legislative Analyst for Reproductive Rights & Health at the National Women's Law Center. "Being able to decide if, when, and how to become a parent is a decision that everyone should have, including those in the Armed Forces. The Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act is critical to ensuring that service members have the freedom to control their own futures."

"Service members and their families deserve access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health care - including birth control," said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood Action Fund. "They should have the freedom to control if, when, and how they build their families. This should not be up for debate. To truly support our service members and military families, we must protect and expand their access to the health care they need, when they need it. Thank you to Reps. Escobar, Strickland, and Jacobs for reintroducing this bill."

Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju said: "With reproductive freedom under attack like never before, it is more urgent than ever that our lawmakers take bold action to safeguard and expand access to contraception for members of our military and their families. We are grateful to Reps. Escobar, Jacobs, and Strickland for fighting to ensure that everybody, including servicemembers, has the freedom to make their own decisions about their bodies, families, and futures."

"Servicemembers deserve equal and affordable access to comprehensive contraceptive services for themselves and for their families," said Freya Riedlin, Senior Federal Policy Counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights. "With the vast majority of servicemembers being of reproductive age, the need to ensure comprehensive access to contraception and family planning services couldn't be clearer. We commend Congresswomen Escobar, Strickland, and Jacobs for championing this vital bill."

"Every person deserves to be able to determine if, when and how they build their families, including our service members and veterans. As physicians, we understand that access to contraceptive care is a key part of safeguarding our basic human right to bodily autonomy. We applaud the steps this bill takes to ensure that servicemembers and their families have meaningful access to the full spectrum of contraceptive care through the Access to Contraception for Servicemembers & Dependents Act," Dr. Jamila Perritt, President & CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health and ob/gyn in Washington DC, said.

"Everyone deserves access to the contraceptive method they want and need without cost being a barrier. The fact that this is not possible for all of our servicemembers and their families right now is deeply unfair and disrespectful of what they give to our country," said Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide. "As a practicing OB-GYN, it is so frustrating to see patients on TRICARE, counsel them about contraception and then not know whether they will be able to access the method they need. Thank you to Representatives Escobar, Jacobs, and Strickland for your leadership-it's time to fix this."

"Birth control and contraception are essential health care," said Jocelyn C. Frye, President of the National Partnership for Women & Families. "Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, health plans for non-military families must cover contraceptives with no cost sharing. This bill would provide our service members and their dependents with the same benefits, allowing them to make decisions about their health and reproductive care without worrying about the costs they will incur. We appreciate Rep. Escobar's leadership on this issue to ensure service members faithfully serving our country get the high-quality health care they deserve."

Although the Affordable Care Act (ACA) guarantees that employer-sponsored and marketplace health plans cover preventive services without cost sharing, including all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, granted, or cleared contraceptive methods, counseling, and related services, these protections do not apply to coverage through TRICARE, a health care program for uniformed servicemembers and their families.

In July 2022, the Department of Defense took a critical action in eliminating copayments for medical contraceptive services (i.e., intrauterine devices, birth control shot, birth control implant, and diaphragm measurement and fitting), and effective January 2023, certain TRICARE beneficiaries will no longer face cost-sharing or copayments for tubal ligation (surgical sterilization) services when obtaining care through a civilian provider. However, congressional action is needed to completely eliminate copayments for prescription contraceptives and ensure that servicemembers and their loved ones have equitable access to all methods of contraception.

Congresswomen Escobar, Jacobs, and Strickland are joined by co-sponsors Ro Khanna (CA-17), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), Elissa Slotkin (MI-07), Patrick Ryan (NY-18), Kathy Castor (FL-14), Marc Veasy (TX-33), James McGovern (MA-02), Lori Trahan (MA-03), James Himes (CT-04), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Annie Kuster (NH-02), Ritchie Torres (NY-15), Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Greg Landsman (OH-01), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Shelia Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Susan Wild (PA-07), Haley Stevens (MI-11), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Scott Peters (CA-50), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), John Larson (CT-01), Susan Wild (PA-07).

The Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act of 2024 is endorsed by Endorsements: National Partnership for Women & Families, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Center for Reproductive Rights, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), Physicians for Reproductive Health, National Women's Law Center, Power to Decide, Service Women's Action Network.

Bill text can be found here.

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